ARCHIVED - Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2010-480
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Route reference: 2010-72
Additional reference: 2010-72-2
Ottawa, 15 July 2010
Canyon.TV Incorporated
Across Canada
Application 2009-1588-7, received 23 November 2009
Public Hearing in the National Capital Region
14 April 2010
Canyon Extreme Sports – Category 2 specialty service
The Commission denies an application for a broadcasting licence to operate a new Category 2 specialty service.
Introduction
1. Canyon.TV Incorporated (Canyon TV) filed an application for a broadcasting licence to operate Canyon Extreme Sports, a national, English- and French-language Category 2 specialty service that would broadcast Canadian and international sports events of all genres but that focus primarily on covering local, regional and international extreme sports events. The service’s programming would consist of a single video feed with complete audio tracks in each language and would include live events, pre-recorded events and documentaries.
2. Canyon TV is wholly owned and controlled by Mr. Warren Walsh.
3. The Commission received two interventions in opposition to the application, one from an individual and one from Score Media Inc. (SMI), parent company to The Score Television Network (The Score). The interventions and the applicant’s reply can be found on the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca under “Public Proceedings.”
4. After examining the application and considering the interventions, the Commission considers that the primary issue arising from this application is whether the proposed service would be directly competitive with existing Category 1 or analog pay or specialty services.
Would Canyon Extreme Sports be directly competitive with existing Category 1 or analog pay or specialty services?
5. In Public Notice 2000-6, the Commission implemented a competitive, open-entry approach to licensing Category 2 services. While the Commission does not consider the impact that a Category 2 service might have on an existing Category 2 service, it does seek to ensure that Category 2 services do not compete directly with any existing Category 1 or analog pay or specialty service.
6. In Public Notices 2000-171 and 2000-171-1, the Commission adopted a case-by-case approach to determining whether a proposed Category 2 service should be considered directly competitive with an existing Category 1 or pay or specialty service other than a Category 2 service. The Commission examines each application in detail, taking into consideration the proposed nature of service and the unique circumstances of the genre in question.
7. In its intervention, SMI stated that it was opposed to the proposed nature of service definition, which it considered overly broad, as well as to the applicant’s proposal to air “traditional” professional sports. According to SMI, the service should not be licensed unless the applicant is willing to narrow the nature of its service to focus on extreme sports or to abide by the Commission’s conditions of licence regarding the broadcast of mainstream sports set out in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2009-562.
8. The applicant responded that it was not prepared to devote its service solely to extreme sports or to mainstream sports. As well, the applicant did not provide precise levels for the mainstream and extreme sports programming that it intends to broadcast.
9. In the present case, the Commission notes that the applicant proposed a nature of service definition that is very similar to that of existing English- and French-language mainstream sports specialty services, including TSN, RDS, Sportsnet and The Score. The Commission also notes that the applicant neither proposed nor established sufficient safeguards to prevent the proposed service from becoming directly competitive with such services. Accordingly, the Commission finds that the proposed service would be directly competitive with existing Category 1 or analog pay or specialty services.
Conclusion
10. In light of the above, the Commission denies the application by Canyon.TV Incorporated for a broadcasting licence to operate the national, English- and French-language Category 2 specialty programming undertaking to be known as Canyon Extreme Sports.
Secretary General
Related documents
- Conditions of licence for competitive Canadian specialty services operating in the genres of mainstream sports and national news, Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2009-562, 4 September 2009
- Introductory statement – Licensing of new digital pay and specialty services, Public Notice CRTC 2000-171, 14 December 2000, as corrected by Introductory statement – Licensing of new digital pay and specialty services – Corrected Appendix 2, Public Notice CRTC 2000-171-1, 6 March 2001
- Licensing framework policy for new digital pay and specialty services, Public Notice CRTC 2000-6, 13 January 2000
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